Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations

First Edition: May 26, 2015

Today’s early morning highlights from the major news organizations.

Kaiser Health News:
In Sunlit Paradise, Seniors Go Hungry
While the U.S. economy adds jobs and the financial markets steadily improve, a growing number of seniors are having trouble keeping food on the table. In 2013, the most recent data available, 9.6 million Americans over the age of 60 —or one of every six older men and women—could not reliably buy or access food at least part of the year, according to an analysis from researchers at the University of Kentucky and the University of Illinois. (Varney, 5/26)

Kaiser Health News:
Second Opinions Often Sought But Value Is Not Yet Proven
KHN consumer columnist Michelle Andrews writes: "When confronted with the diagnosis of a serious illness or confusing treatment options, everyone agrees it can be useful to seek out another perspective. Even if the second physician agrees with the first one, knowing that can provide clarity and peace of mind. A second set of eyes, however, may identify information that was missed or misinterpreted the first time. ... But here’s the rub: While it’s clear that second opinions can help individual patients make better medical decisions, there’s little hard data showing that second opinions lead to better health results overall." (Andrews, 5/26)

The New York Times:
Four Words That Imperil Health Care Law Were All A Mistake, Writers Now Say
They are only four words in a 900-page law: “established by the state.” But it is in the ambiguity of those four words in the Affordable Care Act that opponents found a path to challenge the law, all the way to the Supreme Court. How those words became the most contentious part of President Obama’s signature domestic accomplishment has been a mystery. Who wrote them, and why? Were they really intended, as the plaintiffs in King v. Burwell claim, to make the tax subsidies in the law available only in states that established their own health insurance marketplaces, and not in the three dozen states with federal exchanges? The answer, from interviews with more than two dozen Democrats and Republicans involved in writing the law, is that the words were a product of shifting politics and a sloppy merging of different versions. (Pear, 5/25)

Politico:
Republicans Grope For Obamacare Replacement
Preparing for a Supreme Court decision that could strike down Obamacare’s subsidies for nearly 7.5 million people this summer, Senate Republicans are coalescing around a plan to resurrect them — at a steep price for the White House. With several Senate Republicans facing tough reelections, and control of the chamber up for grabs, 31 senators have signed on to a bill written by Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) that would restore the subsidies for current Obamacare enrollees through September 2017. But the administration would have to pay a heavy price — the bill would also repeal Obamacare’s individual and employer mandates and insurance coverage requirements. ... But even if Johnson could somehow persuade Obama and Senate Democrats to accept his plan — a herculean task — the bigger problem will be his Republican colleagues in the House. (Haberkorn and Bade, 5/26)

The Associated Press:
GOP Likely To Feel The Heat If Court Decision Guts Obamacare
A Supreme Court ruling due in a few weeks could wipe out health insurance for millions of people covered by President Barack Obama's health care law. But it's Republicans — not White House officials — who have been talking about damage control. A likely reason: Twenty-six of the 34 states that would be most affected by the ruling have Republican governors, and 22 of the 24 GOP Senate seats up in 2016 are in those states. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/26)

The Wall Street Journal:
Health Costs Hinge On Supreme Court Ruling
The court is expected by the end of June to rule on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate subsidies to more than 7.5 million people who bought plans on the federal exchange. If the court upholds the lawsuit, those people will land in the same boat as their more well-heeled compatriots. People with individual coverage in 2010 and 2012 who bought silver and bronze plans on the exchange after the law took effect saw total premiums and out-of-pocket payments rise an estimated 14% to 28%, according to a study last year by the National Bureau of Economic Research. (Armour, 5/25)

The Associated Press:
Democrats See Skimpy Insurance As The Next Health Care Issue
A different health care issue has emerged for Democrats, in sync with the party's pitch to workers and middle-class voters ahead of next year's elections. It's not the uninsured, but rather the problem of high out-of-pocket costs for people already covered. Democrats call it "underinsurance." After paying premiums, many low- and middle-income patients still face high costs when trying to use their coverage. There's growing concern that the value of a health insurance card is being eaten away by rising deductibles, the amount of actual medical costs that patients pay each year before coverage kicks in. (Alonso-Zaldivar, 5/23)

The Wall Street Journal:
CFOs Seek To Avoid Bite Of Health Law’s ‘Cadillac Tax’
Finance chiefs grappling with rising health-care costs face a new dilemma: how to avoid paying hefty taxes on generous employee health-care plans. The Affordable Care Act calls for an excise tax on high-cost health plans, starting in 2018. The tax is meant to help fund insurance for previously uncovered Americans through the new health law. The levy, often called the “Cadillac tax,” is 40% a year on the amount by which employer-sponsored plans exceed government-set thresholds. (Johnson and Murphy, 5/25)

Los Angeles Times:
Obamacare: California Exchange Caps Specialty Drug Costs For Patients
Tackling the high price of specialty drugs, California's Obamacare exchange capped what consumers will have to pay for expensive medications each month. The new limits, set to go into effect in January, mark a first for state exchanges nationwide, according to Covered California. The exchange's four-member board approved the changes unanimously Thursday. (Terhune, 5/22)

NPR/KQED:
Covered California Votes To Cap What Patients Pay For Pricey Drugs
In recent years, expensive specialty medicines used to treat cancer and chronic illnesses have forced some very ill Americans to choose between getting proper treatment and paying their rent. To ease the financial burden, the California agency that governs the state's Obamacare plans issued landmark rules Thursday that will put a lid on the amount anyone enrolled in one of those plans can be charged each month for high-end medicine. (Dembosky, 5/22)

NPR:
Multiple Sclerosis Patients Stressed Out By Soaring Drug Costs
American medicine is heading into new terrain, a place where a year's supply of drugs can come with a price tag that exceeds what an average family earns. Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts says last year more than half a million Americans racked up prescription drug bills exceeding $50,000. Barbara Haedtke of Portland, Ore., knows this all too well. When she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2001 at the age of 35, she was prescribed Avonex, at a cost of around $10,000 a year. ... She's now taking a new drug, Tecfidera, that's priced even higher — $66,000 a year, according to her pharmacy receipt. (Harris, 5/25)

The Wall Street Journal:
Proposed Medical-Research Law Raises Safety Concerns
Legislation aimed at boosting U.S. medical research funding and revamping some rules over drug and medical-device safety is headed toward a vote in the full House of Representatives, likely in June. But while the bill, known as the 21st Century Cures Act, passed the House Energy & Commerce Committee unanimously last week and opposition has been muted, some critics are beginning to question whether it would open the way for companies to sell drugs and devices that aren’t fully tested. (Burton, 5/25)

The Washington Post:
For Combat Veterans, VA Ban On IVF Coverage Adds Insult To Injury
After Army Staff Sgt. Alex Dillman was paralyzed from the abdomen down in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, the Department of Veterans Affairs paid to retrofit his Chevy Silverado truck so he could drive it and bought him a handcycle so he could exercise. But the agency ... won’t pay for what the onetime squad leader and his wife, Holly, ache for most: a chance to have children. VA will not pick up the bill for in vitro fertilization .... Under a 23-year-old law, VA is prohibited from covering IVF. ... Now, however, veterans and lawmakers from both parties are pushing to overturn the ban. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 5/25)

The Associated Press:
Senate Tweaks Veterans Health Law To Boost Specialized Care
Veterans would get specialized medical care from private doctors more easily under a bill the Senate approved Friday. The measure relaxes a rule that makes getting specialized care from local doctors difficult for some veterans, especially those in rural areas. Senators approved the bill by voice vote as they rushed to wrap up legislative work before a weeklong Memorial Day recess. ... Senators said the measure was needed because some veterans were unable to get federally paid medical care from private doctors under the new Veterans Choice Act. The law blocks veterans from getting private care if they live within 40 miles of a VA medical facility, even if the veteran needs specialized care that is farther away. (Daly, 5/22)

The Washington Post:
Money And Time Are Running Out For VA’s Denver Hospital
The Senate passed a measure Friday afternoon to keep the construction of the $1 billion over budget Denver Va hospital going after Congress reached a deal Thursday that would raise the spending cap by $100 million. But that deal only allows work at the site to continue for three weeks. ... House Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) says he can’t believe that the department has yet to fire those responsible for the cost overruns. “America’s patience is running out,” Miller said Thursday, after the deal was reached. The VA says it needs another $830 million to finish the project. (Wax-Thibodeaux, 5/22)

Chicago Tribune:
Inmate Who Is 'Eating The Jail' Costs Cook County $1 Million In Health Care
Lamont Cathey was a promising Chicago basketball prospect, a dominating 6-8 center who had the potential to play at a Division II college until he was arrested and charged in the theft of money from a pizzeria safe more than a year ago. Unable to post a $5,000 cash bond, the West Englewood 17-year-old languished in Cook County Jail as legal wrangling over his low-level burglary charge dragged on. Eventually, after months stuck in limbo when a plea deal fell through, something inside the teen cracked. He began to swallow anything he could get his hands on in his cell — screws, needles, a thumbtack, a 4-inch piece of metal, even strips of leather from restraints, according to jail officials. ... According to jail officials, at least $1 million has been spent so far on Cathey's medical care — more than any other inmate in recent history. (Schmadeke, 5/24)

The New York Times:
Doctoring, Without The Doctor
There are just a handful of psychiatrists in all of western Nebraska, a vast expanse of farmland and cattle ranches. So when Murlene Osburn, a cattle rancher turned psychiatric nurse, finished her graduate degree, she thought starting a practice in this tiny village of tumbleweeds and farm equipment dealerships would be easy. It wasn’t. A state law required nurses like her to get a doctor to sign off before they performed the tasks for which they were nationally certified. ... But in March the rules changed: Nebraska became the 20th state to adopt a law that makes it possible for nurses in a variety of medical fields with most advanced degrees to practice without a doctor’s oversight. ... The laws giving nurse practitioners greater autonomy have been particularly important in rural states like Nebraska, which struggle to recruit doctors to remote areas. About a third of Nebraska’s 1.8 million people live in rural areas, and many go largely unserved as the nearest mental health professional is often hours away. (Tavernise, 5/25)

USA Today:
Addiction Treatment Hard To Find, Even As Overdose Deaths Soar
With nearly 44,000 deaths a year, more Americans today die from drug overdoses than from car accidents or any other type of injury. Many of these deaths could be prevented if patients had better access to substance abuse therapy, experts say. Yet people battling addiction say that treatment often is unavailable or unaffordable. Only 11% of the 22.7 million Americans who needed drug or alcohol treatment in 2013 actually got it, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. While some of those who went without care did so by choice, at least 316,000 tried and failed to get treatment. (Szabo, 5/24)

The Wall Street Journal:
Law Spurs Interest In Helping New Moms Deal With Depression
Until this year, the Seleni Institute, a nonprofit center devoted to women’s mental health and wellness, held only small, private training sessions on postpartum depression. But after New York state’s maternal depression law went into effect in January, the agency trained 67 nurses, social workers and other providers on how to identify the condition and connect women with services at a public session in Brooklyn, in April. And the organization has had so much interest that another public training has been set, with more than a dozen others in the works. “We never expected the growth that’s been happening, and it’s kind of our scramble on the back end to meet demand,” said Rebecca Benghiat, Seleni’s executive director. (Machalinski, 5/25)

USA Today:
Government Backs Down On Some Requirements For Digital Medical Records
Government regulators are backing down from many of their toughest requirements for doctors' and hospitals' use of digital medical records, just as Congress is stepping up its oversight of issues with the costly technology. Under Obamacare, doctors and hospitals are being pushed to switch from paper to electronic records or be penalized. ... Now the Department of Health and Human Services is proposing a series of revisions to its rules that would give doctors, hospitals and tech companies more time to meet electronic record requirements and would address a variety of other complaints from health care professionals. (O'Donnell and Ungar, 5/25)

The New York Times:
Police In Florida Grapple With A Cheap And Dangerous New Drug
A hazardous new synthetic drug originating in China is being blamed for 18 recent deaths in a single South Florida county, as police grapple with an inexpensive narcotic that causes exaggerated strength and dangerous paranoid hallucinations. On Thursday, the Fort Lauderdale police killed a man, reportedly high on the man-made street drug, alpha-PVP, known more commonly as flakka, who had held a woman hostage with a knife to her throat. ... Law enforcement agencies have had difficulty tamping down a surge in synthetic drugs, which were banned after becoming popular in clubs five years ago only to re-emerge deadlier than ever under new formulations. (Robles, 5/24)

Reuters:
Actavis Cannot Drop Old Version Of Alzheimer's Drug-Appeals Court
Actavis Plc cannot pull its top-selling Alzheimer's drug from the market in favor of a pricier extended-release version, a federal appeals court in New York ruled on Friday. The decision from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a win for New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who sued to block the switch, arguing that Actavis was trying to stifle competition from generic drugmakers. A three-judge panel upheld an order by U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet in December requiring Actavis to keep the older drug, Namenda IR, on the market. (Ax and Pierson, 5/22)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.